Ficus-lovin\x27 Capybara N\x27 pals • 🌟 • 25 yrs ago
Tom Nicholas
comments
Comments by "Ficus-lovin\x27 Capybara N\x27 pals • 🌟 • 25 yrs ago" (@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsago) on "Johnny Harris: A Story of YouTube Propaganda" video.
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@otov100 I still can't believe you said democracy is mob rule..... although technically you are correct, your negative connotation notwithstanding.
So you do want to be a serf, it seems. You want a master. You want no direct control over the laws that affect you. Ok. Got it. Fine. I do not.
Why doesn't everyone deserve a voice? Sure I'm not going to always love everyone's opinions around me, but with constant referenda and limited govt (in the right ways), I trust in due time most will choose to enact the most empowering and ethical policies from among the possible choices.
Nobody has the intrinsic right to rule over another. I mean man, they just DON'T. I'm not saying ANYTHING goes, but we all should have the right to be as free and empowered as possible within rational limitations. In my mind, so-called representative "govt' has long outlived it's usefulness, if it ever had one, and should be replaced or at a minimum expanded in it's numbers and supplemented by direct debate, commentary and referenda from the public.
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Perhaps we could have a chiller discussion and try to leave the emotional language and over-generalities aside. we may find we have some areas that we agree on more than we disagree.
The term I identify with most is Libertarian Socialist. I'm economically a Socialist,
but a civil libertarian. I could go into long detail on this but in a nutshell that means I believe in dropping the hammer on big corps and the 1%, ending poverty thru many detailed means; and dismantling the police and prison state by any means necessary. Liberty IS under attack from would-be fascists in DC but not because of the ridiculous reasons the dumb yokels claim- but due to attacks on truth tellers like Assange and Edward Snowden, and other lesser-known whistleblowers, and an unholy agenda of mass incarceration here at home which preys on the poor and those of color. I want to end all economic state extortion and theft, and I mean ALL. This includes all policing-for-profit, jailing-for-profit and adjudicating-for-profit. I'm mostly against forced taxation for most households, and I'm currently working out the finer details on my position on that. I'm fine with minor and reasonable use taxes, including property taxes so long as the public gets a vote on how much; but I believe the majority of the tax burden belongs at the top, especially in business.
I would readjust how schools are funded so they never have to worry about lack of funding again.
I believe in taking an iron fist to the big corps in all deserved ways and responding to threat of climate change by any means necessary.
I would rationally but radically decriminalize, decarcerate, and defund ALL organs of State force and oppression. Radical reform and radical accountability would be the new norm.
I believe in responsible and rational maximum access to firearms, with a period of required safety training; but if a type of gun or tool has proven especially deadly, then I say its fair to ban it from common use if that protects innocent lives. Such weapons can still be used at designated recreational gun ranges, but not be able to leave the premises. That's a fair compromise, I believe.
Native nations and black communities would get the entirety of the land justice and the reparations they have up until now so long been denied.
I support fully open borders, with those arriving to be met by 'processing agents', not militarized and savage border thugs; and I always have. I would mandate the immediate end of the brutalization of those who come here, and I welcome every person in pain who needs to relocate here for survival. If the wealthiest nation-state in the world can't help the most destitute and the wretched of this earth, something must be wrong.
Basically I just consider myself a common-sense hard-core compassionate Liberal, but compared to the savagery that's passed for governance here for the past 50+ years, I suppose to most I'd be considered some kind of radical; but I'm OK with that.
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@HoagMurkula a govt is indeed a monopoly on violence... Which I don't think is right- but total anarchy isn't the answer either. I have some ideas about the problem of tyrannical civil govt and what we should demand instead that I can get into later.
I want a just economic system NOW, there's really no time to wait; not to mention the elimination of all civil rights issues that are rotten here. That requires taking over state govt by a majority of aggressive and unapologetic Leftists. (I'm not even worried about DC right now, that's hopeless.) So taking the State House is going to be very hard, esp under the current death-grip by the big money class; but not impossible. It takes a lot of boring hard work and strategizing, with no guarantees of success, and almost certain guarantees of initial failure, but we have to try. We can't just keep letting the 1% and the corporate elite dictate everything.
Why do I need to wait for others' opinions before I work on my agenda? All leftists want only two things, economic justice and civil justice. It sound so simple stated like that doesn't it? With the kinds of scum we're up against it could take another 100 years to get there. I sure hope it doesn't, but US is pretty deplorable at both, so I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Real-world change is going to take time, but it won't happen without effort. It's going to take non-stop agitation and organization by grassroots groups of all kinds working together for a common socialistic outcome.
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@kawaiidoggo thank you for your well-considered response and I'll think about it and respond again, but I still believe that a representative system is mostly bad and inadequate, one that over time will be totally captured by elites to the general harm or neglect of the majority and that the only real way to prevent this is to ensure every major decision is put to a public vote on a regular basis, ie every month for example, and any interested adult public citizen is a de facto member of the ruling council along with its "official members" and can come and address, meet with, question, and debate any of them at any public session, for as long as is necessary, and not in the token way this is performed now (VERY token if you've seen any metro city council meetings. Those fuckers dngaf what the ordinaries have to say, they let us say our piece and give people usually a max of five minutes each, count the clock until it's over, then do what they were going to do anyways. They know whose interests they represent, and believe me, it ain't ours.)
Not very democratic.
Now sometimes matters do go on the public ballot and that's fine- but once every two years, as is done here in CA both for local and state issues is ludicrous. I guess nothing of public interest happens in between those time frames, having a direct voice once every 24 months is totally sufficient for those who are politically or publicly active. (Note sarcasm)
No this really doesn't work. I mean it works great for narrow special interests, not so much for the bottom 50%. No, a much more flexible and egalitarian system must be created or amended so a "people's Assembly" or a "people's council" can actually exist.
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@jeffreyepstein9641 when I say socialism I just mean material guarantees to all citizens who need them, say those under 60K income. All basic material needs met at a basic level. Not luxury, nothing fancy, but a baseline of protected and guaranteed material security; nothing more but nothing less. Food, clothing, housing, medical care, access to education and training, mental health care support, drug treatment, transportation assistance, and phone/internet help. A strong minimum wage. Labor protected. Homeowners protected, far better than currently. Renters STRONGLY protected. Taxes progressively higher on the top 10% and big business, low to none on everyone else. Corporate sector highly controlled and limited. Private wealth limited to something reasonable, ie 400M. Etc. That's all. When I say socialism all I mean is material assurance by the State. We could have that, if the right people were ever elected. I do think we can vote our way into a better system, but if not, then we do whatever else is necessary.
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